a el 


a ee ee 


RAJAHMUNDRY 


The Center of 
the Telugu Mission of the 
General Council of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church in 
North America 


ame Ef me 


By 


CALVIN F. KUDER 


Missionary at Rajahmundry 


Published by the Board of Foreign Missions 
of the General Council of the Evan- 
gelical Lutheran Church in 
North America 


Copies of this pamphlet at the rate of three 
cents a copy may be secured through the General 
Secretary, Rev. George Drach, Trappe, Penna. 


eee Mt 2 Sf ee fe ID ee Qe B oe eee Hf a Hf ee eed em eel oon [go 


Fh mee ne ee Be ree a Be IR me Ge Bn ame hn SE Mh en he 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2023 with funding from 
Columbia University Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/rajahmundrycenteOOkude 


Rajahmundry, the Center of 
Our Telugu Mission 


BY REV. C. F. KUDER 


THE CITY 


In the census of 1911, Rajah- 
mundry lacked only a few hun- 
dred souls of having 50,000 inhabi- 
tants, and, therefore, of being a 
“city” under the requirements of 
British India. It’extends upwards 
of three and a half miles along the 
eastern bank of the Godavari, and, 
measured at right angles to the 
river, a mile from west to east. It 
is the seat of a government college, 
a sub-treasury, a small hospital, a 
penitentiary, a sub-collectorate, a 
district (county) court; contains 
numerous temples of little import- 
ance, as far as size and architec- 
tural grace go, and a mosque dat- 
ing from the thirteenth or four- 


3 


teenth century, when Islam was in 
the ascendency throughout India; 
and it is a terminal division of the 
East Coast Railway, a fact which 
has caused large numbers of Eu- 
rasians (people of mixed blood) to 
settle there. The inhabitants com- 
prise nearly a score of missionar- 
ies, about a dozen Englishmen, 
married or single, the Eurasians, 
and, finally, the natives, of whom 
about one per cent. are Christians, 
from six to eight per cent. Moham- 
medans, and the rest—about 45,000 
—RHindus. 


THE MISSION EQUIPMENT 


Coming on the fine “state road” 
from the east, a stranger would 
first come to our Central Girls’ 
School, which would be sure to 
beget the hope in him, only, how- 
ever, to be disappointed, that he 
was about to enter a beautiful city; 
for the aesthetic has, as yet, not 
been emphasized in the municipal- 
ity. One mile due west from the 
school is charming Riverdale, in- 
cluding in its compound two bun- 


4 


galows, the printery, and one of 
the schools for Hindu girls. A 
mile and a half north from River- 
dale, just outside of the city limits, 
is the Boys’ Central School, situat- 
ed on a gentle eminence called Lu- 
thergiri (giri is hill) and com- 
manding a view of river and moun- 
tains of surpassing beauty; and 
two and a half miles south from 
Riverdale are the hospital, medical 
home, and the buildings pertaining 
to them. Not far from the centre 
of the town, on the road that in the 
main separates the caste from the 
outcast quarters, and facing the 
latter (perhaps _ significantly), 
stands St. Paul’s Church. In a lit- 
eral sense the Mission holds the 
centre and the cardinal points of 
the city: BUT IN NO OTHER 
SENSE. 


_ WEAKNESS OF THE MISSION STAFF 

For it is true, notwithstanding 
the fact that Rajahmundry is the 
centre of our Mission, that much 
less has been done in it, along cer- 
tain lines, than in the outlying dis- 


5 


tricts. With a single recent excep- 
tion, and that of only a year’s dur- 
ation, no ordained missionary has 
ever been assigned to Rajahmun- 
dry as his sole field of labor. Both 
Drs. Schmidt and Harpster, though 
in charge of the work in the city, 
had far more work in other parts 
of the mission field than in Rajah- 
mundry. It is doubtless true that 
they spent from three to four days 
elsewhere for every day in head- 
quarters, and for every evangelistic 
or pastoral effort they made at 
home they made probably not less 
than a hundred in the mofussil 
(district). The work in the villages 
grew more rapidly than in the city, 
and the missionaries naturally fol- 
lowed the operations of the Spirit 
wherever they became manifest; 
and thus it came to pass in the 
course of not many years that they 
had insufficient time for even the 
district work, let alone that in Ra- 
jahmundry. This is not only not 
an extraordinary condition in India 
missions, but quite a usual one, as 
reference to mission reports will 
6 


show. The apparent growth is 
slowest in the centres. 

It is the simple truth that Rajah- 
mundry is a neglected and unculti- 
vated field. This is not said in dis- 
paragement of the noble workers in 
Rajahmundry, whether past or 
present, nor in depreciation of their 
work: the trouble has not been and 
is not now with the quality of the 
work, but with the quantity, which, 
while great when one considers the 
few laboring, is truly infinitesimal 
when compared with what should 
and could be done. 


WHAT HAS BEEN DONE 


It is usual, though incorrect, to 
estimate the growth of a mission 
by the number of its adherents. Sta- 
tistics exhibit only a very small 
part of the truth: they show only 
numerical gains. Of growth in 
popular favor, in influence, and of 
other elements of strength, less 
tangible but even more valuable 
than mere numbers, they say noth- 
ing. 

Measured by the former test 


~ 
4 


alone, it is true that our Mission 
has scarcely made an impression 
on Rajahmundry; for, although 
our Christian community numbers 
about 800 souls, these come for the 
greater part from other towns and 
villages, and consist mostly — of 
school children and teachers, and 
dependents or beneficiaries of the 
Mission or the missionaries. That 
the Mission has ever won even as 
many as one hundred native Ra- 
jJahmundrians is doubtful! But es- 
timated by the less tangible re- 
sults, the progress has been not 
inconsiderable. The mere _ pres- 
ence of the Mission has had a leav- 
ening effect; its central schools and 
the regular preaching of the Word 
have injected something new into 
the life of the people; Western 
customs have stimulated thought, 
and Christian doctrine has com- 
pelled a comparison with Hindu- 
ism; the medical work has been an 
interpretation of the helpful, mer- 
ciful spirit of Christianity (in 
sharp contrast to Hindu indiffer- 
ence to suffering), which the dull- 


8 


est can understand; the schools for 
Hindu girls have fostered female 
education, enabled the gospel to 
filter into many homes otherwise 
inaccessible, anl filled up the heart 
and mind of many a girl with liv- 
ing seed; the zenana work has 
borne much blessed fruit; mere 
contact with Christians has worn 
off the keen edge of a deep-seated 
prejudice (a Brahmin school-boy 
will not hesitate nowadays to take 
a drinking-cup from the hand of a 
Christian mate and drink out of 
it; and not a few caste people, in- 
cluding women, eat and drink in 
the homes of missionaries); in 
short, while only a few converts 
have been won, the way for win- 
ning many is being prepared. The 
gap, that, intervening between the 
two religions and their adherents, 
would to any one but a missionary 
full of faith have appeared impos- 
sible of being bridged, is closing, 
and, in some instances, has closed, 
without, however, involving a 
change of religious belief. 


9 


THE METHOD 


“Love at first sight” is the ex- 
ception not only in marriage, but 
also in every other relation in life: 
especially so in the deepest thing 
of life—religion. And we would 
not have it otherwise. Impressions 
easily made are twice easily ef- 
faced (Query: Is the recent move- 
ment in Korea a healthful one?). 
In India the process will not be as- 
similation first, and then perme- 
ation, but permeation of the body 
of Hinduism by Christian thought 
and belief, followed by gradual 
approach, not by lowering Chris- 
tianity, but by raising Hindu stand- 
ards; and then will come assimila- 
tion of the people by the Church 
of Jesus Christ. It will be—has 
been—a slow process. A palm 
tree may be planted in rich soil 
and favored with every condition 
necessary to its growth, but it will 
not grow faster than it is its nature 
to grow: moral and_ spiritual 
growth is still slower, especially 
among a people so conservative as 


10 


the Hindus, and with so great a 
past in the realm of thought as 
theirs. 

Coming back now to Rajahmun- 
dry, the work of the Mission hith- 
erto has been largely that of per- 
meation and approach. More 
should have been done to stimulate 
these two factors, but it could not 
be done: we hadn’t the men and 
women to do it. Nevertheless the 
missionaries are agreed that the 
time of assimilation is at hand: 
that there are at least first-fruits 
awaiting to be gathered; also that 
the instrumentalities for permea- 
tion should be increased in every 
way. 


THE NEEDS 


I. An Ordained Missionary 


A survey of our present forces 
will demonstrate the truth of this. 
At present there is one ordained 
missionary whose work is exclus- 
ively in Rajahmundry; but his 
work is altogether school-work, 
and he does not even live in the 
city. Moreover, he has been in 


tt 


India less than three years, and, 
though most efficient, has to con- 
tend with the problems incident to 
an apprenticeship. Another young 
missionary, of equal length of ser- 
vice, resides in Rajahmundry, but 
his work lies across the river. The 
50,000 people of Rajahmundry are 
without an ordained missionary to 
win them! 


H. Schools for Hindu Girls 


There are certainly 5,000 non- 
Christian girls of school-going age 
in the city. For these we have eight 
schools, attended by about 400 
girls. These schools are either a 
help to our work or they are not. 
If they are not, they should be 
abolished—should never have been 
begun. If they are a help (and 
who will doubt it?), more should 
be established. They furnish the 
only agency within our power so 
far for reaching the caste girls. 
They are intended to be aids to 
future results: future, because it 
can hardly be expected that a child 
under twelve years of age will have 


12 


sufficient independence of judg- 
ment-or .character: to reject the 
religion of its parents and adopt 
a faith which they oppose. The 
functions these schools occupy in 
the economy of the Mission is that 
of seed-sowing for a future reaping. 
The reaping has not infrequently 
come within half a score of years 
after girls have left the schools, 
when the zenana workers followed 
up the impressions made in child- 
hood. In other cases the impres- 
sions were perhaps weaker, or later 
life kinder, and there are apparent- 
ly no results; but only apparently: 
for the mother who, as a girl, at- 
tended one of our schools, will be 
a step nearer Christianity than her 
mother was, and will the more 
readily send her daughter to school, 
who will come a step nearer than 
her mother. In this work permea- 
tion and approach must be. the 
watchwords. In general, it will 
take several generations to break 
down the middle wall of partition. 
Certainly, the work is slow; but it 
is invaluable, and it is the only way 


15 


experience has so far shown to be 
open to us or in any way fruitful. 

Now what has the General Coun- 
cil so far done in this direction? It 
has furnished one woman mission- 
ary for this work: only ONE. She 
is now on furlough, and another 
one has been pressed into her place, 
at the cost of depriving her of her 
rightful time to acquire Telugu. 
One woman! Four hundred girs! 
Why not five woman and two thou- 
sand girls? (Peddapur, Samalkot, 
Dowlaishwaram, Bhimawaram, 
and Tanuku, to say nothing of 
smaller places, have twenty thou- 
sand girls that ought to be reached 
and schooled. The Mission has 
scarcely crooked a finger to do it!) 


III, Bible Teachers for the Zenanas 


There are certainly 15,000 non- 
Christian women in the homes of 
Rajahmundry. The General Coun- 
cil has one woman missionary, as- 
sisted by six Christian widows of 
slender ability, at work among 
these and the women of two near- 
by towns. It is doubtless true that 


14 


there are many _ consecrated 
women in the Church at home 
whom various good reasons (fam- 
ily ties, inadequate health, etc.), 
prevent from going to our Mission. 
Nevertheless, the conclusion is ir- 
resistible that there must be a la- 
mentable shallowness of devotion; 
for otherwise the call for more 
workers would not continue and 
continue to fall on deaf ears. Be- 
tween 1,200 and 1,500 Hindu 
women are reached with an hour’s 
Bible lesson once a week. The 
work has been blessed. But why 
not ten women, so that 12,000 or 
15,000 Hindu and Mohammedan 
women could be offered the cup of 
salvation? And why not ten oth- 
ers, so that at least a beginning 
might be made in Peddapur, Sam- 
alkot, Bhimawaram, etc., the com- 
bined population of which is not 
far from 100,000, but where no Lu- 
theran woman missionary’s tongue 
or lips have yet spoken one word of 
Jesus? Ten women going out this 
fall and ten next would be only a 
decent number for this work alone. 
15 


IV. Doctors 

A mission territory with nearly 
3,000,000 souls: one hospital, with 
one doctor, with the soul almost 
worked out of her, compelled to 
close the hospital while she gets 
needed rest, and to refuse patients 
because she can do no more than 
she is doing. Why not several 
more doctors, so the work can be 
extended to other parts of the field, 
more suffering relieved, more 
doors opened for the Bible teacher, 
more people brought under the in- 
fluence of the gospel? | 


RESPONSIBILITY AND OPPORTUNITY 


Rajahmundry has three churches 
—Lutheran, Anglican and Roman. 
The two last confine their activity 
to caring for the members they 
have: they make no effort to reach 
the native people: are not mission 
churches. Thus the responsibility 
of evangelizing the city falls on the 
Lutheran Church, which demanded 
it, but has never met it. Its faith- 
ful Indian pastor, because of caste, 
is practically helpless as far as the 


16 


people of higher caste rank than 
his own are concerned. Great as is 
the need for more women mission- 
aries, it is not greater than that for 
an ordained missionary, of good 
ability and pleasing personality, to 
work exclusively in Rajahmundry. 
That we have none is generally— 
and justly so—regarded as an ab- 
normality, and has often been criti- 
cized. Such a man would need 
some adjuncts: a building compris- 
ing a book-store and reading-room, 
assembly room, games, etc., where 
youths and men could freely gather 
and thus afford an opportunity for 
being influenced and won to the 
* Saviour of all men. 

To sum up: the Mission does next 
to nothing—-nor does anybody else 
—for the Protestant Eurasians in 
Rajahmundry: theynumberseveral 
hundred;' nothing at all for the 
4,000 Mohammedans; far too lit- 
tle for the 45,000 Hindus. Most of 
our work in Rajahmundry is in- 
stitutional, and designed to ad- 
vance the work in the mofussil. 
We have no Bible school to train 


ig 


Indian Christian widows for work 
in the zenanas; no refuge for help- 
less caste women converts; only 
one missionary for the Hindu 
Girls’ Schools; only one for the 
zenana; no man to work among 
men and students. 

The world offers few fields equal 
to Rajahmundry in opportunity, 
and, at the same time, in the weak- 
ness of the staff of workers neces- 
sary to seize the opportunity. 
Dan. xii:3. 


‘ 
: { 

= it 

* 
’ 

” 
. 
a 


